Age Specific Developmental Milestones

2 months old

Gross motor: raises head/chest when prone

Fine motor: follows objects past midline

Speech: coos

Social/Cognitive: Social smile; recognizes parents

4 months old

Gross motor: holds head straight, rolls over front to back, props themselves up on wrists from prone

Fine motor: holds things in hands, shakes, and rattles

Speech: laughs, makes sounds

Social/Cognitive: localizes sound and turns head towards it

6 months old

Gross motor: sits without support

Fine motor: grabs and transfers objects hand to hand; will show raking grasp

Speech: babbles

Social/Cognitive: stranger anxiety and object permanence (6-9 mos)

9 months old

Gross motor: crawls, stands with holding onto something

Fine motor: pincer grasps (9-12 mos)

Speech: will start to say ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ specific to parent

Social/Cognitive: orients to name, imitates actions, will experience separation anxiety (normal until 3 y/o)

12 months old

Gross motor: starts to walk, can throw objects

Fine motor: points at objects

Speech: knows 1-5 words

Social/Cognitive: follows simple commands (‘come to daddy’)

1.5 years old

Gross motor: starts to run, can walk backwards with help

Fine motor: stacks up to 4 blocks, uses spoon and cup

Speech: knoqa 10-50 words

Social/Cognitive: plays pretend

2 years old

Gross motor: walks up/down the stairs (boot feet on each step), kicks ball and jumps

Fine motor: stacks up to 6 blocks (number of blocks = age in years x3), draws a line

Speech: knows ≥ 50 words, can form 2-word sentences

Social/Cognitive: engages in parallel play (2-3 years), follows 2-step commands, removes clothes, moves away from parents and comes back

3 years old

Gross motor: alternate feet when walking up and down the stairs, pedals tricycle

Fine motor: stacks up to 9 blocks, copies a circle

Speech: intelligible speech, knows ≥ 300 words, understands more than 1000 3-word sentences

Social/Cognitive: understands gender difference, brushes teeth and grooms self, able to control bowel/bladder, plays away from parents

4 years old

Gross motor: hops on foot, catches and throws ball overhand

Fine motor: copies a square

Speech: tells complex stories, can identify some colors

Social/Cognitive: cooperative play, imaginary friends

5 years old

Gross motor: skips

Fine motor: copies a triangle, ties shoelaces, writes some letters

Speech: speaks fluently, counts 10 or more things, uses 5-word sentences

Social/Cognitive: learns how to read, understands directions (Left/Right), plays dress up